Identification Tests for Bases Formed During the Putrefaction of Visceral Material

Abstract
Data has been compiled on the general properties of 29 basic compounds which have been reported to occur as putrefaction products of human viscera. The properties include responses to colour tests, behaviour in selected systems of gas, paper, and thin‐layer chromatography, and absorbance in the ultraviolet and infrared range. The relative efficiencies of some acid protein precipitating reagents have been tested with respect to the release of endogenous bases from liver tissues. From this information, together with the development of procedures for extracting the bases from chromatograms, a number of naturally occurring basic compounds have been isolated from human liver tissues and identified.